GREENVILLE, Pa. (April 2, 2016) – The fifth-ranked Rutgers University-Newark men's volleyball team ended its season the way it began, with a 3-0 sweep. The Scarlet Raiders rolled over Thiel College in their regular-season finale to move to 23-2 overall and 10-2 in the Continental Volleyball Conference.
 
The Scarlet Raiders won by set scores of 25-15, 25-22 and 25-18, and they will now turn their attention to the CVC Tournament next Friday and Saturday at Stevenson University. R-N is the No. 2 seed and will square off with third-seeded Marymount University Friday with the winner taking on the winner of top-seeded Stevenson and fourth-seeded Juniata College Saturday for the conference title and an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.
 
The win was the Scarlet Raiders' sixth in a row and over the last two years Rutgers-Newark has compiled a 21-3 record in conference play.
 
Rutgers-Newark finished the match with a hitting percentage of .316, while holding Thiel (3-16, 1-11 CVC) to .045, ending with 47 points, 34 kills, four aces, nine blocks, 34 assists and 33 digs.
 
Sophomore outside Corey Pieper had 12 kills and junior outside Jack Fredricks had nine, with Pieper tallying three aces. Senior opposite Travis Mintzer led the blocking unit with five, while Chidsey and junior middle Nick Kuti had three apiece. Senior Kevin McCandless tallied 31 assists, and senior libero Quocmy Nguyen had 10 digs.
 
Rutgers-Newark used 10-3 run midway through the first set to turn a three-point lead (13-10) into a 10-point margin at 23-13, getting multiple kills and an ace from Pieper in the rally before taking a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
In the second set, Rutgers-Newark ripped off 8-of-10 points start, but the Tomcats battled, eventually coming back to tie things at 10. The Raiders responded with a 5-1 run featuring three Fredricks kills and a Fredricks-Mintzer block, and after Thiel closed within one, Rutgers-Newark picked up three of the final four points in the set to go up 2-0 as McCandless set Pieper for the clincher.
 
In the third, Thiel opened a 17-15 lead before the Scarlet Raiders caught fire to slam the door. A Kuti kill started a 10-1 run to close the match, locking up the team's 23rd win in 25 matches. Fredricks served for the final five points as the Scarlet Raiders notched several blocks – the last of which was a combo block from Kuti and Pieper.
 
Official times for the CVC Tournament will be posted as soon as possible, and Scarlet Raider fans should check www.rutgersnewarkathletics.com throughout the week for more information.